Christopher Schroeder

Category: community and culture

  • If We Can Keep It

    If We Can Keep It

    I didn’t expect to be politically re-energized again.

    I was, and still am, confused and curious about the next No Kings initiative of “hyper-local actions” alongside larger gatherings. I can understand the Indivisible mid-term optimism as a result of current polling data, Trump’s alienating actions, and its hope strategy but cannot ignore that I’ve been here before.

    I naively hoped that the first rally (April 2025) would capture politicians’ attention and compel substantial responses. I was more and more discouraged after subsequent rallies (June and October 2025 and March 2026).

    I objected to the way that Indivisible deployed a similar exclusionary strategy as others who critiqued mainstream Democratic leadership. I agree with the need for this specific critique, and support such critiques generally, but I wish liberals would lose their purity tests, and their political hypocrisies, and instead emphasize cross-community coalition-building.

    Then I read Jill Lepore’s most recent book about the Constitution. This book, which won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for history, offers an account of this foundational document that focuses on the part played by people in the pursuit of a more perfect union.

    The Constitution according to Lepore was designed as both a resistance and means to change. Central was the assumption that this document would not be preserved in its original form at all costs but that it would consistently and constantly updated and changed through amendments and other ways by the American people.

    Such a perspective, which she painstakingly establishes, is also clear in her critique of originalism. This interpretive strategy, which is predicated upon the search for the original intention or meaning, reinforces the impression of an artifact or relic to be preserved rather than a principled process for adaptation and change.

    This book, which some consider Lepore’s best, isn’t my favorite one of hers. Nonetheless, it convinced me that the American political system is a participatory sport, and not something seen from the sidelines.

    And it restored my motivation to reconnect with No Kings, Indivisible, and other political organizations that are calling out and challenging the corruption of this current administration, its Congressional enablers, and my fellow Americans who voted for them.

    Benjamin Franklin’s qualified answer to that Constitutional Convention question seems as relevant today as ever.

  • More Public Media Concerns

    More Public Media Concerns

    I was relieved that WBEZ ended its fall pledge drive yesterday and resumed its regular programming. However, I was reminded even before the broadcast began of my Chicago Public Media concerns.

    I had to listen to two sponsor spots on my smart speakers on my smart speakers. Then I lost count of the number of these and other disruptions such as show promos and apparent advertising — one lauded an antacid? — before I couldn’t listen anymore.

    I didn’t clock the minutes but couldn’t endure any more disruptions. I had spent too much time listening to something other than news, which is the primary reason I listen, and support, public media in the mornings and afternoons.

    I also predicted based upon experience that some of these segments from both NPR and WBEZ would be recycled for afternoon and weekend broadcasts. And I’ve begun to notice more excerpted podcasts on these news shows than original reporting.

    I realize that WBEZ and NPR are confronting challenging financial circumstances even without the incessant pledge drive reminders. I also still am, and have long been, a public media supporter, and long for a government-funded approach as is used in other countries.

    I’m still surprised that NPR and WBEZ hadn’t prepared for these federal funding cuts given how often conservatives have threatened to do so, which seems almost irresponsible. I’m moreover bewildered by the seeming inconsistency between the impression presented in the recent Chicago Sun-Times wraparound for example and these and other experiences, including ones with support staff and upper management, since these funding reductions and even earlier.

    I’ve volunteered for an upcoming usability test for < chicago.com >, which is its latest initiative. I’m skeptical that Chicagoans are seeking a synthesis of social media and reliable reporting but might misunderstand the scope and goals of this initiative.

    I just hope that Chicago Public Media can restore my confidence in it, and convince me to reverse my own financial support reductions, soon.

  • Not Quite Ready If You Ask Me

    Not Quite Ready If You Ask Me

    I am surprised by how much credible critics like Primetime, the new movie directed by Lance Oppenheim that I saw this week.

    This movie, which is a 2007 Esquire article adaptation by Ajon Singh, is the story of a reality TV series about potential child sex predator stings. At its center are its host Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) and its producer Andie Bender (Merritt Weaver) and their collaboration with a vigilante justice group and the most recent decoy actor (Skylar Gisando).

    Hansen and Bender want to compete with other primetime programs — Hansen is also hiding an affair from his estranged wife and confused kids — and the decoy wants a credit for his acting card. In their pursuit of these ends, they destroy the people around them and themselves.

    Their choices and experiences are explored by Oppenheim, who brings his trademark blend of nonfiction, storytelling, and cinematic conventions to his first narrative feature film. This movie recreates a reality television experience, and also focuses on the wall between the screen and the audience, as it blurs lines between experience and narrative.

    Critics cite his direction as well as powerful performances and even the cinematic experience as noteworthy elements of this movie, which I can understand. I however couldn’t get past the tensions between form and content, which masks underdeveloped characters and plot.

    As a result, I couldn’t care about this story or these people no matter how interested in the larger questions I am.

    I am intrigued by the way that narrative, and drama, shape experience and generate significance and meaning, and often asked first-year college students and English majors to consider these. I can easily imagine ways that these issues could be considered in this movie, and also ways it could ask more conventional content questions , such as one about ambition and ethics or culture and commodification.

    It instead seems content with friction or flashes from crossing conventional craft and content boundaries that illuminate little if anything about this situation, its setting, these characters, or the world where we all live.